• Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎) as the White-pawed monkey (<i>Tejiro no saru</i> - 手白ノ猿) and Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (市川新之助) as the small monkey (小ざる) - center panel of a triptych of a dance play <i>Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji</i> [花三升恋いの字] within the larger play, <i>Gohiiki o Hiku Ya Tsunazaka</i> (常磐津 御摂曳綱坂)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎) as the White-pawed monkey (<i>Tejiro no saru</i> - 手白ノ猿) and Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (市川新之助) as the small monkey (小ざる) - center panel of a triptych of a dance play <i>Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji</i> [花三升恋いの字] within the larger play, <i>Gohiiki o Hiku Ya Tsunazaka</i> (常磐津 御摂曳綱坂)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎) as the White-pawed monkey (<i>Tejiro no saru</i> - 手白ノ猿) and Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (市川新之助) as the small monkey (小ざる) - center panel of a triptych of a dance play <i>Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji</i> [花三升恋いの字] within the larger play, <i>Gohiiki o Hiku Ya Tsunazaka</i> (常磐津 御摂曳綱坂)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎) as the White-pawed monkey (<i>Tejiro no saru</i> - 手白ノ猿) and Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (市川新之助) as the small monkey (小ざる) - center panel of a triptych of a dance play <i>Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji</i> [花三升恋いの字] within the larger play, <i>Gohiiki o Hiku Ya Tsunazaka</i> (常磐津 御摂曳綱坂)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎) as the White-pawed monkey (<i>Tejiro no saru</i> - 手白ノ猿) and Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (市川新之助) as the small monkey (小ざる) - center panel of a triptych of a dance play <i>Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji</i> [花三升恋いの字] within the larger play, <i>Gohiiki o Hiku Ya Tsunazaka</i> (常磐津 御摂曳綱坂)
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Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)

Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎) as the White-pawed monkey (Tejiro no saru - 手白ノ猿) and Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (市川新之助) as the small monkey (小ざる) - center panel of a triptych of a dance play Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji [花三升恋いの字] within the larger play, Gohiiki o Hiku Ya Tsunazaka (常磐津 御摂曳綱坂)

Print

10/27/1839
10.125 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga
五渡亭国貞画
Publisher: Kawaguchiya Shōzō
(Marks 231 - seal 25-355)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - full triptych
Waseda University
Mead Art Museum, Amherst
Hankyu Culture Foundation
Hankyu Culture Foundation - right panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - left panel
Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire (via Ritsumeikan University) - center and right-hand panels only
Hadano City Gallery - the full triptych This print is the central panel of a triptych illustrating the dance play, a shosa (所作) or shosagoto (所作事), Hana to Mimasu Itoshitsu no Moji (花三升恋いの字) performed at the Kawarazaki Theater in Edo in 1839.

The small monkey was played by the son of the large monkey. Other actors who are seen in the triptych are Ichikawa Ebizō V (五代目市川海老蔵) as a White Monkey, the Spirit of Kinpira (Kinpira no rei Hakuen 金平の霊白猿), Ichikawa Saruzō I (初代市川猿蔵) as a Little Monkey (Kozaru 小猿) on the right-hand panel and Ichikawa Danjūrō V (五代目市川団三郎) as Mita Tsugō (三田仕) on the left one.

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There are copies of the middle and left-hand panels of the triptych in the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia.

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What is a shosogoto (所作事)? On page 324 footnote 240 of The Life of an Amorous Woman, and Other Writings by Ihara Saikaku (1642-93: 井原西鶴) says: "Kyōgen-kigyo (lit., "dramatic flourishes") corresponded approximately to the shosagoto (dance plays), an essential aspect of the Kabuki repertoire, which are performed either as interludes or as essential parts of the plays themselves."
Kawaguchiya Shōzō (川口屋正蔵) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII (八代目市川団十郎: 3/1832 - 6/8/1854) (actor)
Ichikawa Shinnosuke III (三代目市川新之助) (actor)